Dell VPLEX vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize comparison

The compared Dell Technologies and IBM solutions aren't in the same category. Dell Technologies is ranked #3 in SM , with an average rating of 7.0, and holds a 4.8% mindshare in the category. IBM is ranked #13 in SDS , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Dell VPLEX

Read 19 Dell VPLEX reviews

751 Views
518 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Read 39 IBM Spectrum Virtualize reviews

944 Views
576 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Dell VPLEX

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Dell VPLEX and IBM Spectrum Virtualize based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Broadcom and others in Storage Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Storage Management Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Storage Management

January 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Dell VPLEX

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Storage Management (3rd)

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Storage (SDS) (13th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Storage Management and Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Dell VPLEX is designed for Storage Management and holds a mindshare of 4.8%, down 8.7% compared to last year.
IBM Spectrum Virtualize, on the other hand, focuses on Software Defined Storage (SDS), holds 2.1% mindshare, up 1.5% since last year.

Storage Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell VPLEX	4.8%
NetApp OnCommand Insight	5.9%
Dell Storage Resource Manager (SRM)	5.7%
Other	83.6%

Storage Management

Software Defined Storage (SDS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Spectrum Virtualize	2.1%
Red Hat Ceph Storage	14.3%
DataCore SANsymphony	6.3%
Other	77.3%

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Featured Reviews

Sayed Zuber

Sr. Storage And Backup Engineer at OMNIdata Trading, Lda.

It's an excellent solution for data mobility and disaster recovery, but the CLI can be difficult for beginners

Dell VPLEX currently requires Flash Player to access the GUI. It would be better to have a web-based HTML management interface. The encryption could also be improved. When the host writes data, it goes from VPLEX back to the physical storage. The physical storage device will do encryption or use an algorithm called Data Address Encryption. If there are vulnerabilities between the host and the storage device, you can lose your data. I suggest encrypting the data before it is sent from the host to the storage. I would also recommend using the NVM protocol in VPLEX. It still has Flash Player and a local SATA disk built into the Flash Player. You need to Flash the disk to SAS and then SATA. The NVM protocol is better.

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AhmedSorour

IT Specialist at Saudi Business Machines - SBM

Unified storage solution supports cross-vendor replication and diverse industries

One of the most valuable features of IBM Spectrum Virtualize is its virtualization capability. It allows for the creation of stretched clusters, which are crucial for running Linux-based workloads that need mirroring for boot disks. The solution also provides asynchronous and synchronous replication, supporting operations across different data centers. Its deployment options across public, private, and hybrid clouds add to its versatility.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The best feature of VPLEX storage is its ability to consolidate storage. It also provides the highest RPO and RTOs for replication technology. VPLEX enables application mobility."

"The solution works well. It's very reliable."

"Dell's technical support is awesome. We received instant support from EMC as long as we had an active contract."

"The capacity to migrate machines onto VPLEX is great — it's very clean. We can migrate machines and add arrays easily."

"Its mirroring capabilities allow for data to be mirrored across two different data centers, so if one center were to crash or fail, the other center could take over and keep everything running smoothly."

"The most valuable feature is deduplication, as we have no duplication in the snapshots."

"Storage virtualization and geographic resilience for Metro Sans, plus a great performance improvement."

"Mobility enables us to carry out an internal migration of data."

"IBM offers excellent customer service."

"We are happy with the support that IBM provides us."

"It provides transparency, because of its advanced copy features."

"IBM provides exceptional technical support, which I rate as the best along with Cisco."

"It lowers cost. It does so by getting more efficient use out of the technology behind it."

"Using SBC, a valuable feature is the mirroring, which is the virtualization of the disk between disparate places."

"I like all the features, but the most impressive recently has been the introduction of IBM's Flash Core Modules. They are a form of a flash drive, but they have many more features."

"The ability to add the virtual machine on the Spectrum environment to sort out the data movers(DMs) and their schedules is a valuable feature. You are able to have, for example, four data movers to balance them so you do not have too much work on one data mover."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize pros

Cons

"VPLEX's engine-based architecture is complex, so the implementation is challenging and takes more time. It's also difficult to fix hardware issues. When an appliance fails, it takes Dell EMC a long time to fix it because spare parts are in short supply."

"Dell VPLEX should improve its integration and user interface and be easier to configure."

"The initial setup is complex."

"VPLEX hardware migration to spare equipment in case of major disruption."

"There can be delays in getting performance reports."

"Today, it needs a huge effort that is not acceptable during disaster recovery."

"With Dell VPLEX, there are some bugs with Broadcom."

"The price is a problem with EMC due to the fact that it's more expensive than the other vendors."

More Dell VPLEX cons

"I already discussed possible improvements with some of the guys from Hearnsley. One of our frustrations is when you go to expand volumes in a global mirror environment, you have to stop everything in order to expand. So that's one of the things."

"The training program could be improved."

"Anything which improves performance and the ability of our systems would be a nice."

"IBM could improve IBM Spectrum Virtualize by bundling Storage Scale and Storage Virtualize into a single appliance. This would provide a more appealing and cost-effective solution."

"t is limited in terms of a single system to eight nodes or four, what they call IO groups."

"The case logging process is efficient, but resolving software problems takes too much time."

"I hate I/O groups. If you start swapping I/O groups, they can be potentially risky. If they could get rid of the whole I/O group principle, the risk is not there anymore. I understand the fundamental thing about I/O groups, but they are risky."

"In general, the migration is complicated. Though, it is case-by-case."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"VPLEX is a little bit expensive in my personal opinion."

"We struck a great deal with Dell EMC, so for us, VPLEX was not very expensive."

"We have struggled with Pure Storage, but people are understanding that much of Pure has been consumer grade SSDs. Therefore, when the customer is really understands what they are getting, they realize that IBM presents the same sort of value as existing vendors."

"This solution came as an additional cost for the TSM package we chose."

"Do a proof of concept, if you are not comfortable jumping in, but do it."

"I think it is a good value for the price."

"We would like the CPU cycle to save more on the licensing costs for us."

"I am very happy with the pricing. There is no comparison when it comes to pricing. I have looked at all solutions from EMC, Veritas, Hitachi, Dell, etc. None of them compares to IBM when it comes to pricing. I get great pricing from them."

"Generally the bundled licensing is more cost effective and gives flexibility to the solution. Linking into the Spectrum Suite can also be advantageous, but depends on the scale of the enterprise."

"The entry point of pricing for this product is the most amazing price ever in the industry."

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Insurance Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

10%

Performing Arts

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	31

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Dell VPLEX?

Some of the products are very easy to implement, while others are more difficult, and our team seeks support help when required. Regarding the integration part, the delivery team handles all integr...

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What is your primary use case for Dell VPLEX?

We are implementing Cohesity, Hitachi, Dell, and Nutanix, VMware, vSAN; multiple products. We have recently started working with Cohesity because there was not much presence in India for Cohesity, ...

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What advice do you have for others considering Dell VPLEX?

Hitachi Systems Microclinic has been renamed to Hitachi Systems India Private Limited. The email address has been changed to shailendra.chaudhry.hd at hitachi-systems.com from shailendra_singh.chau...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

IBM Spectrum Virtualize is not an expensive product. It offers flexibility with different flavors, whether appliance-based or as software. Its costs are competitive compared to other solutions like...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

IBM could improve IBM Spectrum Virtualize by bundling Storage Scale and Storage Virtualize into a single appliance. This would provide a more appealing and cost-effective solution. Additionally, it...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Virtualize?

I primarily use IBM Spectrum Virtualize ( /products/ibm-spectrum-virtualize-reviews ) when I have different hardware from various vendors and I want them to act as a unified storage solution. It en...

See all answers

Comparisons

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs Dell VPLEX

Compared 22% of the time

IBM SAN Volume Control vs Dell VPLEX

Compared 20% of the time

NetApp BlueXP vs Dell VPLEX

Compared 16% of the time

Huawei OceanStor DJ vs Dell VPLEX

Compared 14% of the time

VANTAGE Storage Intelligence vs Dell VPLEX

Compared 13% of the time

More Dell VPLEX Competitors

IBM Spectrum Scale vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 17% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 12% of the time

VMware vSAN vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 10% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 10% of the time

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs IBM Spectrum Virtualize

Compared 10% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Virtualize Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell VPLEX

January 2026

Download Dell VPLEX product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

January 2026

Download IBM Spectrum Virtualize product report

Overview

Wth EMC VPLEX you can deploy next-generation virtualization architecture to enable simultaneous information access within, between, and across data centers, move applications, virtual machines, and data in and between data centers without impacting users and deliver application and data availability within the data center and over distance with full infrastructure utilization and zero downtime.

Dell Technologies

IBM Spectrum Virtualize is a dependable solution that improves data value, security, and simplicity for new and existing storage infrastructure. Proven over 12 years in thousands of deployments, its innovative virtualization capabilities help organizations achieve better data economics by supporting new workloads that are critical to their success. IBM Spectrum Virtualize software helps make new and existing storage more effective and standardizes functions traditionally deployed separately in disk systems for greater flexibility and potentially lower costs.

IBM

Sample Customers

Kindred Healthcare, Regis Aged Care, WeBank SpA, Panduit, Munson Healthcare

Pelephone, Sprint IT Enterprise Services

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, NetApp, Broadcom and others in Storage Management. Updated: January 2026.

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